Child Care News
Samantha Maiden: Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin's goodwill tour means there won't be a farewell visit
Sunday Telegraph - Samantha Maiden - March 8, 2015Instead, taxpayers are spending more on childcare without clear evidence that women are working longer. Mr Morrison shares these concerns, recently comparing the childcare rebate to the first homeowners’ grant, suggesting it was inflationary and has delivered price gouging by providers...
NAB to offer male workers 12 weeks paid parental leave
Financial Review - Nassim Khadem - March 8, 2015National Australia Bank will extend its paid parental leave policy to its male workers and non-birth parents as the bank moves to gain a competitive advantage on gender diversity. In late 2006, NAB increased paid parental leave for primary carers from six to 12 weeks. But given most primary...
Dads fail to claim baby pay cash under the parental leave scheme
Sunday Telegraph - Samantha Maiden - March 8, 2015JUST one in three new dads is claiming their $1281 baby pay entitlement under Australia's paid parental leave scheme. Fathers of newborns can secure up to two weeks of government-funded pay based on the rate of the minimum wage if they take unpaid leave from work to care for...
Why Swedish early learning is so much better than Australia's
The Conversation - Monica Nilsson, Beth Ferholt and Karin Alnervik - March 6, 2015Most people have heard that Finland leads the world in education, but fewer have heard that Finland's neighbour, Sweden, is the international leader in early childhood education and care. In 1999, when Sweden was inspected by a group of international experts appointed by the OECD...
Daycare phonetics the perfect preparation for school
The Australian - Natasha Bita - March 5, 2015A SCHOOL that gives free phonics lessons to kids in daycare has boosted its NAPLAN performance by giving young children a headstart in reading. Enoggera Primary School in Brisbane's north has achieved one of the strongest improvements in the National Assessment Program in Literacy...
Fact file: 11 facts about child care in Australia
ABC News - Fact Check - March 4, 2015Following the scrapping of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's signature paid parental leave scheme, the Federal Government is now expected to turn its attention to child care. A Productivity Commission report released in February identified both access and affordability as major issues. "The...
Forget complicated reports, just make childcare tax deductible
The Australian - Richard Holden - March 4, 2015IF you want a recipe for a bad public-policy debate then combine the following ingredients: taxes, government spending, children's welfare, gender equity and jobs. However, there is one simple answer to the debate on childcare in Australia: taxation. The Productivity...
Voters prioritise more money for childcare and preschools over business tax cut: poll
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - March 3, 2015Australian voters think increased funding for childcare and preschools is more important than a tax cut for big businesses, a new poll has found. It comes as cabinet considers boosting childcare funding and Social Services Minister Scott Morrison devises a new approach to families policy...
Why the Productivity Commission's childcare report is a positive step forward
Women's Agenda - Claire Braund - March 3, 2015Goodstart Early Learning's claim that the cost of childcare will universally rise under the model proposed by the Productivity Commission Report into Childcare and Early Learning (covered in Women’s Agenda Monday), needs to be viewed in context. Goodstart is a not-for-profit company...
Fact check: Did the Abbott Government cut $1 billion from child care?
ABC News - March 2, 2015Child care is shaping up to be a key area of Federal Government reform in coming months, with Social Services Minister Scott Morrison nominating it as a priority. The Productivity Commission released a report into child care and early childhood learning on February 20, 2015 which said...
Music to no one's ears: The cost of childcare to increase
Women's Agenda - Georgina Dent - March 2, 2015The cost of childcare in Australia is expensive, inconsistent and fraught, much like the conversations that often surround it. What it costs to have a child in day care around Australia varies from as little as $60 to as much as $160 a day. Due to short supply and long wait lists...
Former ABC Learning Centres chief financial officer James Black pleads guilty to 1 charge after ASIC probe
Courier-Mail - Liam Walsh - March 2, 2015THE corporate watchdog has claimed its first criminal scalp from ABC Learning Centres, almost six and a half years after the Brisbane-based childcare empire collapsed. ABC's former chief financial officer James Black on Monday pleaded guilty in Brisbane's District Court to one charge of...
Soft evidence of the need for hard tax reform
Financial Review - Alan Mitchell - March 2, 2015The release of the McClure report on welfare reform and the Productivity Commission's report on childcare exposed all the conflicting objectives that politicians bring to these kinds of events. The hard truth is that welfare reform almost certainly will end up saving less, and childcare reform will...
Scott Morrison to ask cabinet to support additional spending on childcare
The Guardian - Lenore Taylor - March 1, 2015Scott Morrison will ask federal cabinet to give in-principle approval for additional spending on childcare on Monday as he begins consultations with the industry about his soon to be released families and childcare policy. Morrison has previously said any increase in the $7.7bn a year...
Luke Foley has pledged an extra $1.3 billion to build schools and TAFEs at Labor campaign launch
Daily Telegraph - Andrew Clennell - March 1, 2015Labor leader Luke Foley has pledged an extra $1.3 billion to build schools and TAFEs and promised every primary school will have its own childcare centre in his campaign launch this morning in Campbelltown. As Labor looks to win back Campbelltown, which the Liberal Party holds by 6.8...
